District Begins Discussing Next Year's School Calendar

Burlington's School Committee, at their February 11 meeting, conducted their first read of the 2025-26 school calendar, focusing mostly on start dates and end dates.

Superintendent Eric Conti put forward a draft calendar that proposes staff return on Monday, August 25, with grades 1-12 starting Wednesday, August 27. Pre-K and kindergarten would begin later, on September 4. The last day of school would be on Wednesday, June 17; anything more than a single snow day would leapfrog the Juneteenth holiday on Friday of that week, sending students and teachers to school the following week.

The draft includes a full two weeks of winter break starting on Friday, December 19, which is longer than break has been in recent years—and, says Committee Chair, Christine Monaco, possibly too long.

In response to student feedback, the fall professional development and parent conference day is slated for October 20, the day many South Asian students and their families will celebrate Diwali.

Committee members Meghan Nawoichik and Melissa Massardo disagreed on the best day to start, with Nawoichik saying parents she's heard from prefer to start after Labor Day and Massardo citing parent feedback saying they'd rather start earlier so the school year doesn't extend so far into the summer.

Still up for debate is the inclusion of Good Friday as a day off. The district has historically had a large number of staff absences on this day, resulting in either staffing issues or last-minute school cancellation. Many Committee members asked to see a calendar with Good Friday included as a day off, as having it as an official part of the calendar will allow for families to plan ahead of time rather than learning about a school closure a couple of days in advance or having what Chair Christine Monaco says could be a wasted day due to teachers being out.

Conti plans to present several calendar options at the next meeting, including versions starting September 2 and with Good Friday off. To account for these days, the end of the school year would need to be extended and/or the winter break could be shortened. He's also going to survey the community for their input.

"There's no perfect calendar or schedule," Conti admits. "We just need to hit our 180 days."

The school calendar is not yet finalized; the committee will continue to hash out the details at a future meeting.